Robot cleaner

ABSTRACT

A robot vacuum cleaner comprises a main body having a driving wheel, a suction port provided underneath the main body for drawing in contaminants on a surface to be cleaned, and a guide member disposed underneath the main body for guiding contaminants on the surface to be cleaned toward the suction port.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No.2004-33371 filed on May 12, 2004, in the Korean Intellectual PropertyOffice, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference inits entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a robot vacuum cleaner, andmore specifically to a robot vacuum cleaner that is capable of moreefficient collection of dust and contaminants from hard to accesscorners.

2. Description of the Related Art

Generally, a robot vacuum cleaner draws in contaminants, such as dustfrom a surface to be cleaned, while automatically traveling an areawithout being manually guided by a user.

These types of robot vacuum cleaners may detect an obstacle, such asfurniture, appliances, a wall in the area to be cleaned, or the distanceto the obstacle, by a distance sensor or a photographing unit, such thatthe robot vacuum cleaner can clean the area to be cleaned while avoidinga crash or maneuvering to avoid any obstruction.

The conventional robot vacuum cleaner comprises left and right drivingwheels and driven wheels disposed underneath a main body. Each drivingwheel is connected to a driving motor to provide a driving force to thewheels. A control part controls the driving motor such that thedirection of travel of the main body can be changed by appropriateguidance of the wheels.

A suction port is disposed also underneath the main body to draw incontaminants and dust from the surface to be cleaned. A separate suctionmotor, disposed within the main body, provides suction force that isapplied to the suction port. The suction port is connected with aseparate dust collection chamber disposed in the main body. Thecontaminants in the air drawn in to the suction port are collected inthe dust collection chamber.

The conventional robot vacuum cleaner having the above-describedstructure cleans contaminants from the surface to be cleaned whileautomatically traveling in a predetermined travel pattern. In cornerareas, defined between the floor and obstacles, such as furniture andwalls, dust or contaminants gather in greater abundance than in otherplaces because of the lack of air circulation.

However, conventional robot vacuum cleaners have the suction port onlypartially exposed underneath the main body, and therefore, thecontaminants in a corner area are difficult to remove completely.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been conceived to solve the above-mentionedproblems occurring in the prior art, and an aspect of the presentinvention is to provide a robot vacuum cleaner having an advancedstructure, that is capable of guiding contaminants found in a cornerarea surface to a suction port so as to collect the contaminants intothe vacuum cleaner.

In order to achieve the above aspects, there is provided a robot vacuumcleaner, comprising a main body having a driving wheel, a suction portprovided underneath the main body for drawing in contaminants on asurface to be cleaned, and a guide member disposed underneath the mainbody for guiding contaminants on the cleaning surface to be cleanedtoward the suction port.

A pair of the guide members may be mounted on opposite ends of thesuction port.

The guide member is in contact with the surface to be cleaned andextends laterally beyond the driving wheel.

The guide member may be made of resiliently transformable material, suchas Thermoplastic Poly Urethane (TPU).

The guide member may comprise a support connected underneath the mainbody, and a guiding part extending upwardly from the support, andconfigured to contact the cleaning surface to be cleaned.

The upper portion of the guiding part connection with the support of themain body may be thicker than the extended portion configured forcontact with the surface to be cleaned.

The guide member may extend away from the suction port and toward thatside of the main body for which the guide portion is intended to clean.

The guide member may be shaped and configured to collect thecontaminants on the surface to be cleaned toward the suction port.

The suction port may be provided behind the driving wheels in relationto the direction of expected travel of the main body.

The suction port extends for a predetermined length in a directionparallel to the rotation axis of the driving wheel and the guide membermay be extend from the opposite ends of the suction port.

The robot vacuum cleaner may further comprise a main brush mounted tothe underside of the main body extending in direction parallel to thesuction port, and is shaped and configured for providing contaminants onthe surface to be cleaned easy access to the suction port.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will become more apparent from achieving an understanding ofthe following detailed description taken with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a robot vacuum cleaner according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view of the robot vacuum cleaner shown in FIG.1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a guide member shown in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a side plan view of the robot vacuum cleaner shown in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Certain embodiments of the present invention will be described ingreater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the following description, identical drawing reference numerals areused for designating the same elements between the different drawings.The elements defined in the description, such as the detailedconstruction and structural elements, are only provided to assist in acomprehensive understanding of the invention. Thus, it is apparent thatthe present invention can be carried out without using those definedelements. Also, well-known functions or constructions are not describedin detail so as to avoid obscuring the invention in unnecessary detail.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a robot vacuum cleaner according to anembodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view ofthe robot vacuum cleaner shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a robot vacuum cleaner according to anembodiment of the present invention comprises a main body 10, left/rightdriving wheels 12 and 13 disposed underneath the main body 10 to extenddownwardly therefrom, a suction port 20 configured to face the floorunder the main body 10, and a guide member 30 also disposed underneaththe main body 10.

A filtering means is mounted within the main body 10 for filtering orcleaning contaminants in the air drawn in through the suction port 20.The filtering means can generally include a cyclone collecting unit anda dust bag. A driving source is also mounted in the main body 10 fordriving the filtering means, that is, for providing the suction port 20with suction force, thereby to draw in air in which entrainedcontaminants are present.

A camera unit 11 is disposed on an outer surface of the main body 10,and preferably is directed in the direction of expected travel of thevacuum cleaner. Obstacles such as furniture and walls can be detected bythe camera unit 11. The main body 10 may be streamlined in a design tominimize the possibility of crash or obstruction against obstacles whiledriving the vacuum cleaner. As shown in FIG. 2, the main body 10 mayhave a substantially circular-shaped bottom.

The left/right driving wheels 12 and 13 are selectively driven bydriving motors 41 and 42 (shown in phantom in FIG. 2), respectively,which are arranged as separate motors from the driving source motors.Driving of the driving motors 41 and 42 is controlled by a control part(not shown). Idle wheels 14 and 15 may be associated with each of theleft/right driving wheels 12 and 13 for providing passive rotation andbalance.

The suction port 20 is disposed behind the left/right driving wheels 12and 13 in the normal direction of travel of the robot vacuum cleaner, asshown by the arrow A. The suction port 20 is provided to extend in adirection parallel to a rotation axis of the left/right driving wheels,as shown, and the extension is for a certain predetermined length. Thesuction port 20 does not extend completely to a side of the main body10, but is configured to have a certain length extending only in thatportion underneath of the body 10, as shown. A rotation brush 21 isrotatably provided in the suction port 20. The rotation brush 21 may berotated by the driving source, in accordance with known methods, forexample, by a belt connection to the axle.

A pair of guide members 30 are provided to correspond and be connectedto opposite ends of the suction port 20. Each guide member 30 isextended to extend from the side of the main body 10, and is exposedbeyond the outer wall defining the main body 10. When the main body 10is moved, the guide members 30 guide and gather contaminants, which arefound at a distance from the suction port 20, such as contaminantslocated in the corner area between the floor and furniture or walls. Theguide members 30 are connected to the underside of main body 10 bysupporting brackets 16 which are attached by screws, or otherappropriate connectors. The guide members 30 each comprise a supportportion 31 (FIG. 3), and a guide portion 33, extended from thesupporting portion 31 and are bent therearound in a partial semicircle.A screw hole 31 a is configured in the supporting portion 31. The guideportion 33 is configured to have a predetermined length such that theend of the guide portion 33 may come into contact with the surface to becleaned. The guide member 30 is extended, so as to extend beyond thedriving wheels 12 and 13, and thus to contact with the surface to becleaned, shown in FIG. 4, for example, a floor 1. The lower part of theguide member 30 is resiliently transformable, such that the lower partclosest to the surface 1 may be transformed by the contact with thesurface 1. Thus, contaminants located in the corner area can beeffectively guided to the suction port 20, and thereby be collected bythe vacuum cleaner.

The guide members 30 on both ends of the suction port 20 are shaped andconfigured to extend in a forward direction, relative to the runningdirection shown by arrow A. The upper portion of the guide member 30 ispreferably thicker than the lower portion, and a section thereof isconnected with the supporting portion 31. Accordingly, only the lowerside of the guide member 30, contacting the surface 1 to be cleaned, iscapable of resilient transformation without greatly changing the shapeof the entire guide member 30. Thermoplastic Poly Urethane (TPU) can bea preferred material for the guide member 30, which is a material beingcapable of providing a proper strength and resilient transformation.

A main brush 40 is preferably provided in the underside of the main body10, extending in a direction parallel to the suction port 20. The mainbrush 40 is disposed behind the suction-port 20 in the direction oftravel of the main body 10, as shown by the arrow A, and resilientlycontacts the surface 1 to be cleaned. The main brush 40 dislodges andcollects contaminants, which then are drawn into the suction port 20.The main brush 40 may be made of the same material as the guide member30, but that is not an essential feature of the invention.

As described above, a robot vacuum cleaner having the above-describedstructure according to the present invention has guide members extendingfrom opposite ends of the suction port, such that contaminants locatedbeyond the reach of the suction port can be gathered and guided to anearer location adjacent to the suction port for drawing into the vacuumcleaner.

Accordingly, cleaning efficiency is increased, in that morecontaminants, even when located in a corner area, can be collected.

The guide member extends and protrudes to the sidewall of main body 10such that contaminants found in corner areas between the floor and anobstacle, such as furniture or a wall, are effectively removed.

Additional advantages, objects, and features of the embodiments of theinvention are set forth in part in the above description and in partwill become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art uponexamination of the description and achieving an understanding of theinvention, or may be learned from practice of the invention. Otherobjects and advantages of the embodiments of the invention may berealized and attained as particularly pointed out in the appendedclaims.

1. A robot vacuum cleaner comprising: a main body having a drivingwheel; a suction port provided underneath the main body, for drawing incontaminants on a surface to be cleaned; and a guide member disposedunderneath the main body for guiding contaminants on the surface to becleaned toward a location adjacent to the suction port.
 2. The robotvacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein a pair of the guide membersare mounted on opposite ends of the suction port.
 3. The robot vacuumcleaner according to claim 1, wherein the guide member is in contactwith the surface to be cleaned and extends laterally beyond the drivingwheel.
 4. The robot vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein theguide member is made of resiliently transformable material.
 5. The robotvacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein the guide member furthercomprises: a support connected with the underside of the main body; anda guiding part extending upwardly from the support, and configured tocontact the surface to be cleaned.
 6. The robot vacuum cleaner accordingto claim 5, wherein the upper portion of the guiding part connectionwith the support of the main body is thicker than the extended portionconfigured for contact with the surface to be cleaned.
 7. The robotvacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein the guide member extendsaway from the suction port and toward that side of the main body forwhich the guide portion is intended to clean.
 8. The robot vacuumcleaner according to claim 1, wherein the guide member is shaped andconfigured to collect the contaminants on the surface to be cleaned andto direct the contaminants toward the suction port.
 9. The robot vacuumcleaner according to claim 1, wherein the suction port is located behindthe driving wheel in relation to the direction of expected travel of themain body.
 10. The robot vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, whereinthe suction port extends for a predetermined length in a directionparallel to the rotation axis of the driving wheel; and the guide memberextends from opposite ends of the suction port.
 11. The robot vacuumcleaner according to claim 10, further comprising a main brush mountedon the underside of the main body extending in a direction parallel tothe suction port, and is shaped and configured for providingcontaminants on the surface to be cleaned easy access to the suctionport.
 12. The robot vacuum cleaner according to claim. 4, wherein theguide member further comprises a Thermoplastic Poly Urethane (TPU).